Angela Merkel's centre-Right coalition wins in Germany

Angela Merkel on Sunday scored a resounding victory in German elections that
will enable her to leave her coalition partners behind after they suffered
their worst parliamentary result since the Second World War.

Angela Merkel reacts after the German general elections in BerlinPhoto: AP

By Damien McElroy and David Wroe in Berlin

11:56PM BST 27 Sep 2009

The Chancellor was seeking to end her uneasy four-year-old "grand coalition" with the centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD) of challenger Frank-Walter Steinmeier and form a government with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) instead.

"There is no talking around it, this is a bitter defeat," Mr Steinmeier said as he conceded after projected results showed a majority for Mrs Merkel's coalition.

"We have achieved something great," Mrs Merkel told supporters after winning her second four-year term. "We have managed to achieve our election aim of a stable majority in Germany for a new government." Together with the FDP, Mrs Merkel is expected to push for an era of deeper economic reforms and tax cuts for Europe's biggest economy.

Her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the FDP benefited from dissatisfaction over spiralling national debt and stagnant income levels.

Mrs Merkel has said she will hold "swift and decisive" coalition talks with Guido Westerwelle, the leader of the FDP, who has been widely tipped as Germany's next foreign minister. She reminded supporters on Sunday night that the prospective coalition would face tough challenges.

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"I think we've really earned the right to celebrate tonight," she said. "I would not tell anyone to remain sober, but we don't want to forget that there are many problems in our country to be solved."

Exit polls showed the CDU retained its position as Germany's largest party, with 33.5 per cent of the vote, while the Free Democrats jumped to 15 per cent. The venerable SDP suffered a humiliating blow, taking just 22.5 per cent.

The CDU and FDP won 330 seats in the 620-seat lower house of parliament, according to predictions, granting the centre-Right alliance a 20-seat majority.

Predictions of a close result were confounded by frustrated voters embracing Mrs Merkel's case for a stronger hand to deal with Germany's long-term financial problems. "We need to deal in a new way with the problem of long-term unemployment and the fact that people need to have more money in their pockets," said Stefan Muller, a voter in Berlin who has been unemployed for two years. "I voted reluctantly because it was a tough choice but something needs to happen." There were jubilant scenes at the CDU headquarters on the banks of the Spree River in Berlin. Jurgen Rutgers, a leading CDU official, said: "This result is a clear confirmation of Angela Merkel. There's a clear majority for the CDU and FDP."

The mood at the SPD headquarters was glum. "It's a disaster," said Michael Zirpel, a former SPD candidate.

"A lot of our party are still unhappy with our reform programme and if you are not convinced in your own policies, how can you convince any one else?"

The extreme Left-wing Die Linke party was the main beneficiary of the SDP collapse. It vowed to be the main source of opposition to the new government programme. "We must fight with a sharp blade," said Oskar Lafontaine, its leader. "We are the only party that is opposing the current system." When counting is finished, a comfortable combined majority for the conservatives would grant Mrs Merkel the scope to tackle festering problems with more radical policies.

Celebrations obscured the fact that Mrs Merkel's party lost support in the election. Its votes dropped by nearly two percentage points from 2005, which should put the Free Democrats in a much stronger position to enforce their agenda.

“Merkel can’t expect her coalition partner to slot into its historic role as the junior mascot,” said Hans-Juergen Hoffmann, managing director of Psephos, a Berlin-based pollster.

Traditionally, the junior partners in German governments have only had a marginal impact on policy, but the strength of the FDP gains mean Mr Westerwelle may be able to push for more than the traditional three cabinet spots allotted to junior coalition members.

The result comes as Germany is beginning to emerge from recession.

However, unemployment is forecast to spike later this year when the government withdraws state-financed work contracts that allowed companies to retain workers vulnerable to redundancy.

The country also faces problems in financing health care, education and a bloated social security system as the national debt has doubled to 85 per cent, aggravated by a £75billion bailout of the country's financial system.

The new coalition is in favour of renewing a parliamentary mandate for German participation in the unpopular Nato-led mission in Afghanistan over the next few months.

Turnout hit a historic low at 72.5 per cent as voting took place against a backdrop of heightened security after al-Qaeda issued videos threatening to punish Germany if voters backed a government that kept its troops in Afghanistan. All the main parties, except Die Linke, support the deployment.